新加坡導演陳哲藝首部劇情長片《爸媽不在家》訴說了亞洲金融危機下一個中產階級家庭與外籍移工間的故事。該片以流暢動人的寫實電影語言,在國際各大影展囊括重要獎項。本研究企圖從該片進行對於電影文本所呈現之「全球城市」意涵的探討,以及當代新加坡電影導演的文化生產實踐。全文分為兩大部分:一、討論《爸媽不在家》一片所呈現的新加坡「全球城市」概念之深刻意義──即導演透過影像企圖救贖的、全球城市生命治理下的「裸命」現場;二、導演陳哲藝作為一個新加坡導演在電影實作現場的生產實踐──即陳哲藝如何在國際影展評審品味及自身電影生產實踐的相互辯證中,在「台灣」、「華人」及「亞洲」電影的想像內容物之間,進行一種透過他者的自我書寫。
Through a case study of the award-winning Singaporean film Ilo Ilo released in 2013, this paper aims to explore the challenges and possibilities of cultural production the Singaporean film industry is faced with and the biopolitical structure and its impact that are plaguing a global city such as Singapore. In this regard, the main focus of the paper is twofold. The first part of the paper addresses the problems of dehumanization in a global city under the domination of the capitalist-based biopower, as implicated in the film. Taken in this manner, this film, in a unique way, can be viewed as an intentional gesture of redeeming humanity that is in constant jeopardy of the capitalist-based biopower and yet at the same time it unintentionally exposes the latent horror of bare life in the biopolitical structure of a global city. The second part dwells upon director Anthony Chen's view of "The Return of Asian Movies" and the meaning of his own cinematic practice. In showing both the dialogic and dialectic relation between how Chen tries to win the favor of the international film festival jury and what he as an Asian film maker would and could want to present through film-making, we would argue that Chen's film can be taken as a way of self-expression through the frames of the other constituted by films labeled Taiwanese, Sinophone, or Asian.